Day 152 - 8:11 PM - Rooftop, Farmhouse, Coconut Plantation, Labigan, Municipality fo Cawayan, Province of Masbate
Mark told his story while watching the stars. i beside him could only stare at his face in silence.
i grew up being treated as an object to be traded off at the right mont. A political tool to expand their family's business drastically. It made her like a bird trapped in the cage with no one beside her.
She understood that feeling of not being loved by one's parents. i watched in loneliness while they valued her brother like the most valuable gem in the world.
Even so, she was rich and beautiful. People would flock like flies towards her, wanting her friendship in one way or another. All of it was fake, though, for the very sa reasons.
Nonetheless, despite all those, she never experienced hunger due to a lack of money.
i might have felt that she was all alone in the world. She had no freedom and had no right to decide for herself. But compared to Mark, i was way well off. She could not imagine what she would end up if she had those kinds of experiences.
It might not be surprising for a person to give up midway through those experiences.
i could not believe that the most important person to her went through that experiences while growing up. She felt frustrated and wanted to cry for him.
However, i did not let a single tear off her eyes. Mark might have gone through all that, but what he needed right now was not pity.
Mark's mind was fleeting through his past experiences. He did not notice until i's hand was already on his head, caressing his hair gently.
"Gege did great."
i's voice entered his ears.
Mark could not help but feel his eyes a bit watery.
i was right. What Mark needed right now was not pity but comndation. He was already past the ti he needed anyone's pity and help. He persevered alone and was now, here beside her.
And from here, Mark continued with the remaining bits of his story.
***
Crippling anxiety was hard to recover from, especially for Mark, who was receiving neither support nor treatnt.
Mark beca a shut-in for a few years, enduring more and more sermons and scoldings.
It was until finally, they grew tired as Mark also stopped listening.
They thought that Mark was already a lost cause.
And from there, Mark was truly alone, spending all day in the confines of the four walls of his small room. Although he still had so interactions with his family, it was kept to a bare minimum.
In the least, he did not stop doing house chores. After all, it was all that soone like him that had no job could do to help. Mark might have the disability to work, but he did not want to entirely beco a burden.
But of course, his parents turned a blind eye to his remaining effort and deed him useless.
In any case, they left him alone.
Unexpectedly, being left alone without interference gave him more opportunities.
One day, a vocational school opened up just on the opposite side of their housing subdivision. It was just a ten-minute walk away from his house. It was his father that subtly told him about it.
The best thing about this was that the school was free. Anyone with interest was free to attend. It was funded by the governnt. However, would that vocational school be flocked with people because of this? No. Even if the slots for the school was limited, it was never filled.
Why?
The only course that the school provided was NCII Pen and Paper Animation. It was an industry not highly valued in this third-world country.
However, as an Otaku, it was one of Mark's few aspirations.
Thus, even though Mark was a bit late to enroll, he managed to enter the school's six months program.
Mark managed to actually pass the exam six months later with flying colors. With the help of the instructor that taught them for six months, Mark managed to finally land his first job since graduating college.
It was on an animation studio in Manila, affiliated with a children's channel in Arica. Animating cartoons was not really Mark's goal, but it was already a big step for him.
At that sa animation studio was where Mark t Halley and Nicole and beca friends with them.
In his first weeks on that job, Mark ca across an incident that changed his life a bit. It was his encounter with the PsyCrystal that fell from the sky. He thought that his life was getting better. He even kept the strange crystal not only because it was strange but maybe, it would bring him good luck.
Unfortunately, as if it was never ant to be, Mark had to leave the studio after working for about five months. Not only Mark left but also so of the animators that entered the studio together with him. It was not an issue with them, but an issue with the studio being unprepared for new employees even though they hired them.
Was Mark unlucky? Maybe he was.
And like before, Mark was back to being jobless once more.
In the least, this ti, Mark felt that there was still so hope for him.
Although he left the studio, he still had so contact with the instructor that recomnded him there. The instructor called him back to the school because of the new course they had. It was NCIII of the sa course that Mark had before. While NCII was a course for in-betweeners and assistant animators, NCIII was a higher one for actual animators of scenes from the storyboard.
Well, it was already late, though. While Mark was spending ti in the studio, the new course already started. Instead, Mark was invited to participate in the exam without actually attending the training course. It was because they were short of attendees and needed Mark to fill in the numbers. Mark had no reason to refuse. If he did not pass the exam, in the least, he had the idea.
Nonetheless, Mark passed the harder exam without the training at all. It did not take long, and he got the certificate. And to say, it was Mark's most important treasure.
***
"I even always carried it with until now."
Mark said, taking out a printed certificate from his ring and offered i to take a look.
i took the certificate with a look of amazent. She was careful as Mark said that it was his treasure.
"By the way, I also had this."
Mark said, taking out another certificate.
i also took a look at the next certificate and was stupefied.
"Civil Service Commission Certificate?"
Of course, i knew about this. Her family had connections to the governnt.
Passing the Civil Service Exam would grant a person eligibility for a position in a governnt office. While what Mark had was just a sub-professional examination certificate, it did not remove the fact that it was an exam that not just anyone could pass.
It was an examination with a ten to twelve percent annual average passing rate nationwide.
"I had nothing to do while jobless, so I took that on a whim. I barely passed. My score is right on the passing mark of eighty percent."
Mark explained.
i did not care about the score. It did not erase the fact that Mark passed such a hard exam.
***
Unfortunately, Mark never had the opportunity to use these two certificates at all.
It would be hard for Mark to actually get a job as an animator since he would need more experience. There were also no animation studios nearby.
As for a job in the governnt office? Mark would never dream of that.
Governnt offices were always filled with a huge number of people. Soone with anxiety, like Mark, would not be able to handle such a place.
Not to ntion that Mark's abilities as an Empath started to develop faster at that point in ti.
That was when Mark just decided to spend ti doing things he liked while at ho. Taking inspiration from the internet, he began to make his own props and crafts.
At one ti that who knows what entered his mind, he actually posted pictures of his working ani props on social dia.
Unexpectedly, it beca quite popular in the field.
Until one day, soone contacted Mark.
***
"It's Mizuki."
Mark said to i.
"Alana?"
i asked to confirm.
"Yep," Mark confird. "She contacted online if I'm accepting commissions on cosplay props. Since I had nothing to do, I accepted it. It took quite the courage to actually et up, though. She was also satisfied with my work and not only paid above the price we agreed on but continued to give commissions."
***
To say, Alana was Mark's savior at that ti. She did not mind Mark's odd aura but valued his work more. Although it was not really a constant flow of money, he was getting so, nonetheless. She also referred him to other custors, giving him more chance to earn money.
With Mark earning money, he began to have more freedom at ho.
However, it seed that he was destined to be unlucky.
One day, while going ho, Mark ca across a kidnapping incident.
***
"That's the first ti I t you, I guess?"
Mark said, glancing at i. Of course, i was stupefied. She never ntioned to Mark that she was kidnapped a few years ago. But then, she realized.
"Don't tell ..."
i stared at Mark, only to see him shake his head.
"I did see you getting taken out of the vehicle, but it's not who saved you. It's Freed, who took over might body at that ti. I also almost died at that ti, you know? No, actually, the two of us should have died at that there. It's just Freed interfered."
***
Was it sothing destined? No one would be able to tell.
It was that ti that the things that Mark thought were getting better beca worse.
Mark's connection to his family felt stifled even more than before. It was fortunate that he was already used to it and the connection between him and his family was already thin in the first place.
And from there, it was the story that i knew.
***
Mark finished telling i his past. It was no wonder now that he did not want to associate with his family at all. Although he still made a bit of effort for them, there was no way that he would try to appear before them.
Without them, Mark was doing fine.
Mark's past experiences were what made him what he was right now.
As soone who could not eat enough in the past, it was not surprising that Mark would not pass good food at any possible ti.
Since he experienced being under and leeching off soone, Mark never wanted to be under anyone once again.
It was a past filled with limitations and struggle. That was why Mark wanted to be free this ti around. Uncaged by anything that wanted to trap him.
And most of these... Were things that the apocalypse gave to Mark.
***
"Should we go to sleep?"
Mark asked i while he returned his certificates inside his ring.
"Let's go."
i nodded with a smile.
Knowing each other's story made their hearts closer to each other. It made them understand each other, and know what shaped their current selves.
Unlike the previous nights, this one was special. It was since Mark finally opened his past to soone.
***
A pair of people contrasting each other in many ways. One was beautiful while the other was below average. The first was rich and the second was poor.
Yet, they were also similar.
Unbound by destiny, freed from the cages called their past.
They were now able to write their own fates, and affect others instead of being affected.
The night was deep and they embraced their rest.
Tomorrow would be a new adventure.
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